Eternity is waiting
by Subtle Shenanigans
Summary: Tigerstripe is already slipping away; from his Clan, his life, and from the only family he has ever known. But he can't stay - she's been waiting long enough. More FuffleTiger feels. UNBETA'D. R & R please. Yes the cover is Fufflestar. Art is mine. Angst Children, Fluff Children.


**A/N: Another prompt based fic from Warriors Amino. Some of the original note below:**

Spottedstar is in fact, me, Spottedpath.

And this may be a bit off because the first like, third of fourth of the fic I wrote after the rest (I was putting down notes and lines I wanted and then - I dunno. The fic was just. Just practically finished.)

 **DISCLAIMER : All OCs and Clans here belong to me but Warriors Concept belongs to Erin Hunter.**

* * *

 _Eternity Is Waiting_

* * *

"Tigerstar?" His old apprentice asked him. "Tigerstar, are you still here?"

"Hmm? Yes. Though you shouldn't call me by that name; I lost that privilege when I retired."

The gray tabby who came into the den snorted. "You'll always be deserving of that name. You were a great leader."

Tigerstripe closed his eyes, trying to block out old memories.  
 _  
"What leader abandons his clan on their last life?"_

 _"They should drive him out!"_

 _"Coward!"_

 _"A leader should use ALL their lives for their clanmates! Not lay back on their last one out of fear."_

He pushed the faint voice-memories out of his head. They didn't know. They hadn't understood.

But his clan had; Spottedstar had.

 _She_ had.

And now that last life was fading; that's why he had asked for Spottedstar to come.

Good thing his denmate, Tanglepath, had been kept in the medicine den for arthritis.

"Well, you've surpassed me as a leader in any case."

He looked at Spottedstar fondly as she went on, denying it. But he had always known it wasn't his time; his era. He was merely the buffer between two incredible leaders.

He slumped to the ground a little more, getting weaker. He listened as her chatter changed, trying to keep him awake and him there. But she knew it was his time.

' _My last apprentice. My deputy. My leader. She's always understood.'  
_  
He's lived too long. He was an older cat when he became leader, and he has already lost two lives to 'age'. Even Spottedstar, his old apprentice, is getting up there in age; her kits are adults, and one of them even has a kit of their own.

No cat should live so long. Why did the lives Starclan grant last so long? Why had _she_ given him _this_ life?

 _"Hey Tigerpaw! What would you do if you could live forever? Would you want to?"_

 _"Why Fufflepaw? I don't think I'd like it. I mean, it's not like we both could be immortal right?"_

 _"But don't cats live forever in Starclan?"_

 _"Only as long as they're remembered."_

 _"Hmm. Then we'll just have to remember each other right?"_

 _". . . I don't think it works that way, Fuffles."_

 _He remembered her huffy expression, ears slightly angles back and eyes squinted determinedly. "Then we'll just have to figure something out!"_

He was able to slide his head a little, straining his clouding green eyes to look at Spottedstar. "Promise you won't forget me?" He asked, cutting through her nonsensical words.

Her gray-blue eyes were glittering and she gave a choked laugh. "How could I ever?" She asked.

"And . . . and Fufflestar?"

Spottedstar blinked slowly, giving a small, disbelieving shake of her head. "Are you even hearing yourself right now? How could I ever forget my leaders - either of them? Fufflestar gave me my warrior name, and you're my beloved mentor. How could you even think I could. . .?"

"You were like a daughter to me," he breaths out suddenly, and he sees her stiffen. He knows it's more confusing than unwelcome.

She relaxes, tapping her nose to his ear, muttering, "And you're always what I've imagined a father to be like."

It's silent after she draws back, except for huffed breathing from the old tom.

After a while, he finally gasps out, "So do you think Redstorm will ever become leader?"

Spottedstar huffs a laugh, "Still planning Earthclan's future, huh? Hawkface will probably become leader first, but yes, I think Redstorm is in the line of cats destined to become leader."

"Well, you were her mentor after all," Tigerstripe muttered, eyes beginning to flicker closed, and vision growing faint.

"Wait!" Spottedstar had gotten to her paws, and couldn't help herself yelling, "Don't go yet! Please! Tig _erst-_!"

But he was already fading; falling. And all throughout the dark he heard his old apprentice wailing for him like a lost kit.

But past the dark she was waiting; she had been waiting for so, so long because he had lived far longer than any cat should.

And then as nothing to black to gray to white, he felt her fur brush against his; and she was there, helping him up to his paws. And he looked up to meet eyes yellow as the worn moon.

Her muzzle brushed his ear, and she muttered to him:

 _'Thank you for remembering me.'_

' _But come on now, old friend; eternity is waiting.'_

 **END**


End file.
